Corporate governance - Vigil

These days it has become fashionable to talk about a subject some of us have been addressing for some time: [1] whether the incentive system for the governance of American corporations optimally encourages long-term investment, sustainable policies, and therefore creates the most long-term economic and social benefit for American workers and investors. Many commentators have come to the conclusion that the answer to that question is no. They bemoan the pressures that can lead corporate managers to quick fixes like offshoring, which might give a balance sheet a short-term benefit, but cut our nation’s long-term prospects. They lament the relative tilt in corporate spending toward stock buybacks and away from spending on capital expenditures. They look at situations where corporations took environmental or other regulatory short-cuts, which ended up in disaster, and ask whether anyone is thinking about sustainable approaches. They rightly point to the accounting gimmickry involved in several high-profile debacles and ask what it has to do with the creation of long-term wealth for human investors.

The U.K. government has been rolling out a number of bold ideas for getting more women into the top ranks.

Partnering with the private sector can help cities translate Big Data into actionable data and bolster resilience.

On October 22, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC” or “Commission”) Division of Corporation Finance (the “Division”) issued Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14H (“SLB 14H”), setting forth a dramatically different standard for when it will concur that a shareholder proposal that conflicts with a company proposal can be excluded from the company’s proxy statement under Rule 14a-8(i)(9). The Division also reaffirmed its views on the application of the “ordinary business” standard in Rule 14a-8(i)(7). SLB 14H is available here.